Three months after calling into question the racial makeup of the casts in rival director Clint Eastwood's WWII films, cantankerous genius Spike Lee's WWII epic is facing its own firing line.

Italian historians and veterans alike say Lee's Miracle at St Anna, which is receiving horrible reviews, is factually inaccurate and "insulting." Critics say the film places blame for the St Anna atrocity, in which 560 civilians were murdered by SS troops, on innocents.

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When Spike Lee set out to make the Miracle at St. Anna, he wanted to make a film that highlighted the oft-ignored contributions made by black soldiers in World War II. He succeeded in making a black war movie, yes, but will the message come across if no one goes to see it? Because if potential movie-goers are putting a lot of stock in the film's terrible reviews, that's exactly what will end up happening.

The critics? They aren't loving Spike's Miracle. At all. Most of them appreciate the concept and intent, but most of them also think the execution was all wrong. Flaws and all, some, including Roger Ebert, still think it's worth the cost of a ticket. Will you see it?

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A sequel to Spike Lee's School Daze starring Alicia Keys and Kanye West would have been either colossally terrible or a cult classic. Or both! But Spike Lee is having trouble getting the project, which picks up a quarter century after the original, off the ground, despite have a great script. According to Spike, "The film takes place at the same college but 25 years later, but the powers that be didn't want to tell that story." [AA]

There hasn't exactly been a whole lot of Oscar buzz surrounding Spike Lee's new World War II film, The Miracle at St. Anna, but if there is and he doesn't get one, he'll know why. Lesson for those who want an Academy Award: don't mess with Clint Eastwood… or, better yet, move to Los Angeles.

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Barack Obama's making history, guys! And in an idealistic fashion, Spike Lee is predicting that our history-making candidate will change African Americans' artistic output for the better… starting with music.

He says, "We gotta step it up… This is too important. We should use an event like Barack's presidency, which I feel is probably one of the most important moments in the history of this country, to galvanize us, to inspire us, and, yo, let's go!

"I believe artists have to lead the way. The same way as in the turbulent 60s… that music reflected both the difficult times we were going through and the enthusiasm and optimism we had, too. And I think Obama is going to have the same effect on African-American artists - and it's needed."

Spike could really be onto something here. Take the Jeezy song, "My President," for instance: "Mr. Black President/Yeah, Obama for real/They gotta put your face on the $5,000 bill…" Hmmm. On second thought, we're going to need to get some new artists into the spotlight to test this theory. [SP]

• How are you guys feeling about Solange's latest bid at music success? Yay or nay? [NB]

• Tyra disappoints fans? Who would have thought it possible? [CM]

• Business is the cause of many a feud and many a forced reconciliation. Ask Spike Lee. [SP]

• Ice Cube's putting out some music for his mature fans — the ones that are left after his Are We There Yet franchise. [MTV]

• I think everyone but the remaining Jackson 4 has given up hope of a Jackson 5 reunion. [Bossip]

Look! Black soldiers! In a World War II movie! Something tells me Clint Eastwood won't be invited to the premiere. Luckily, Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna is coming out before George Lucas's Tuskegee Airmen film.

Does Spike Lee know about this? George Lucas if filming a new movie called Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen. According to the AP, surviving airmen want to see a film that will give their battles against the enemy abroad as much focus as their historic battles against racism at home.

Col. Herbert Carter, who also was with the airmen in the '40s, said the racism the men encountered should definitely be mentioned but not dwelled upon in the Lucas film. "So many want the movies to focus in that sense and that's bitter history that has been thoroughly emphasized and publicized," the 88-year-old said in an interview.

He said the real story is how they blew apart the notion that blacks could not fly planes in war.

• Shaquille O'Neal wants to buy your mortgage and save you from home foreclosure. Really. [EUR]

• Mark Wahlberg says he won't be reuniting with the Funky Bunch because he's too old to rap. It never stopped LL Cool J. [SP]

• A boxer/personal injury lawyer is suing Jay-Z for biting his style. [AHH]

• A new website from the brain behind What About Our Daughters, keeps a close eye Michelle Obama attacks from the media. [MOW]

• See some stills from Spike Lee's putting-his-money-where-his-mouth-is movie. [BV]

Mamma mia! Angry black man Spike Lee is getting a taste of his own opportunistic outrage.

After spending the past couple weeks hectoring fellow director Clint Eastwood with charges of prejudiced casting, Lee is now under fire from the Italic Institute of America, which is as bitter as Campari about Lee's portrayal of Italians.

According to Bill Dal Cerro, president of the Italic Institute of America, Lee may have his own anti-Italian racist tendencies to worry about.

"Spike Lee is very talented, but I sometimes wish he'd practice what he preaches," Dal Cerro said. "His points about African-Americans are well taken, but, ironically, he does the same thing to Italians in his films."

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Barack Obama isn't just an inspiration to us common folk. “I’m going to take the Obama high road,” Spike Lee told MTV.com Friday, refusing to further discuss his beef with Clint Eastwood. “It’s not a feud.” I wonder if Lee decided to take the high road before or after he made that uncalled-for plantation dig. He really should have left Clint Eastwood with the burden of having the last, immature words. Especially since Lee was right.

And now: Spike Lee responds to Clint Eastwood's response to Spike Lee's response to Flags of our Fathers.

"First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," Spike Lee told ABCNEWS.com. "He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him. And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."

"If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist," he said. "I'm not making this up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II."

Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood were once friendly enough to take this picture, but I doubt either of them would be too willing to pose together these days. A few weeks ago, Lee, who is coming out with a World War II movie this fall, criticized Clint Eastwood for not including any black soldiers in Flags of Our Fathers or Letters From Iwo Jima. Eastwood is clearly pissed.

"The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that," Clint Eastwood told the UK's Guardian. "If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go: 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate… A guy like [Spike Lee] should shut his face."

A guy like Spike Lee is never going to shut his face. Just so Clint knows.

Clint Eastwood is one of the most respected directors in Hollywood, but that didn't stop Spike Lee from voicing some very public criticism (and very valid) of his casting choices for Flags of our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima.

"He did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black soldier in both of those films," Lee said Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was a judge in an online short-film competition. "Many veterans, African-Americans, who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. I have a different version."

Except to see the black soldier experience in Lee's new WWII film, The Miracle at St. Anna. Eastwood had no comment.

Lee also had some choice words for the Coen Brothers, who won the Best Directing Oscar this year for No Country For Old Men. "I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don't," he said. "Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It's like, 'Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!' I see things different than that."

He might be creating enemies every time he opens his mouth at Cannes this week, but since when does Spike Lee care?